


Your Pal, Your Buddy, Your Bucky

by HollowSoldat



Category: Black Widow (Comics), Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: Brainwashed Bucky, F/M, M/M, Red Room (Marvel), Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-08 08:50:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11078166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HollowSoldat/pseuds/HollowSoldat
Summary: Rumlow was never really the sentimental type, but then he met the Winter Soldier and something about him was different.





	1. Permafrost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rumlow meets the Winter Soldier and begins a new mission.

 

Brock Rumlow remembered the first time he saw the Winter Soldier. 

Frozen.

Locked up in a stasis pod like a bruised and broken barbie doll. He looked so harmless in there, a sleeping animal in a cage. Briefly, Rumlow entertained the thought of activating the pod and seeing what all the fuss was about. Natasha had stopped him of course, creeping in silently, the same way she always did, just as his hand hovered over the control panel.

"I wouldn't touch that" she chided, wiping off a smudge of blood smeared on her sleek black body suit. 

"Aren't you just a little curious? I wanna see what he can do" he replied, peering in at the sleeping assassin. 

"You wouldn't be saying that if you ever went toe to toe with him, trust me" Natasha binned her bloodied cloth and sat on the edge of the table.

It seemed she was on guard duty now, probably wasn't a bad idea either, Rumlow thought, considering he himself had considered defrosting this guy to see what the big deal was. If he was as serious as the extra security outside the vault implied, it was probably for the best he stayed frozen, but still, Brock was impatient and wanted to know who he was. So far Karpov had said sweet fuck all except that he was "the Asset" and that Zola said he was the "fist of Hydra" or some other bullshit that didn't really explain what all the fuss was about.

"You read his file or something?" Rumlow asked, studying Natasha not that it made her any easier to read.

If Nat didn't want someone to know something, they'd never find out. She had an unbeatable poker face and could weave webs of lies like ... a spider. He had to hope she'd be frank and honest in her response, or else he'd never know at all. Apparently this guy was from Russia, and so was she, so it wouldn't surprise him if there was a history there. Natasha was full of mysteries, she was also deadly. Very deadly. If the Asset was anything like her, well, it was no surprise they kept him on ice. Nat was clever, lethal and silent. By the time anyone saw her coming, it was usually too late.

"He trained me in the Red Room when I was a little girl" she began, "They brought in the Winter Soldier for combat training. They told us he would teach us how to walk and talk like American's and how to break necks with our bare hands. I was the twenty-second girl in class to fight him when it came time for our combat lesson. He broke three of my ribs before his handler told him I'd fought enough and that it was the next girls turn."

Rumlow saw a slight fire in her eyes. Perhaps she wanted a rematch or perhaps she was reliving the old mistakes that gave him an opening to break three of her ribs. She was punishing herself for screwing up enough to get hurt, even though she'd been a child then. At least, thats what Rumlow thought, she was still as impossible as ever. 

"Did anyone beat him?" Rumlow asked, though it seemed a stupid question, she was the best the KGB ever created if she couldn't best him, who else could?

"Not that night, no one even landed a single hit. There were other programs though, other Soldiers, savage soldiers. Soldier's that couldn't be controlled" 

"And he can?" 

Rumlow was skeptical. Any guy who had to go on ice between missions was surely a liability when they thawed out. Cryo could do weird things to the body and the brain.

"You'll see. Karpov told me he has a mission for him tonight, we'll probably see for ourselves soon enough."

She was smirking now. That was usually a bad thing, for Rumlow at least. She always smiled like that after they made a friendly bet between themselves before a mission. He'd learned the hard way not to wager against Black Widow when it came to who could score the most hits on a mission or who could reach an extraction point the fastest. Even with a head-start, he could never seem to outsmart her but damn did he come pretty close. In a hand-to-hand fight however, he knew he was the heavy hitter, but she was fast and acrobatic, weaving around punches and wearing him down. They could be quite evenly matched when paired together, their strengths and weaknesses complimenting one another nicely. He wonder if she'd shared missions with the sleeping Soldier, what was he like? Was he a hard hitter like him, or a venomous ballerina like Natasha? With a fancy piece of hardware grafted to his left arm, Rumlow was willing to bet he was a hard hitter, a tank, but time would tell. 

Natasha's phone beeped, with a bored sigh she excused herself with an exasperated " _duty calls_ ", leaving Rumlow to study the stasis pod himself for a moment. That was when Karpov arrived, nursing a red leather journal, a trio of scientists trailing after him, small and weak looking in their lab coats. Rumlow knew he could easily pound the three of them into the floor at once without breaking a sweat, and yet, the eggheads had their use in HYDRA. He had to sit back and let them work, letting out a warning snarl at the dweeb in the glasses that glanced up from his readouts to look at him for a second. The scientist quickly snapped his attention back to the life signs and temperature readouts or whatever it was he was analysing on the array of screens and windows hooked up to the stasis pod. 

The pod hissed and leaked a biting cold fog, colder than any winter blizzard, the kind that drilled through your bones. Even though Rumlow was several paces away from the pod as the door peeled back he felt it claw through his tactical combat gear. The soldier fell out, unresponsive and corpse-like, nearly crushing the three scientists under his weight as they struggled to straighten him up. If he was a ballerina like Natasha, he was a poor one it seemed, he found it hard to imagine Natasha falling out of a stasis pod with such inelegance. Karpov waved Rumlow over, with a nod he stepped forward and hefted the Soldier upright, hooking an arm under his right-side, relieving the scientists of most of his weight though they tried to steady him on his left side.

He felt as cold as death, perhaps he was dead, there had been a malfunction in the pod and he'd been lying there dead for weeks, years even, who knows. 

"Sit him down" Karpov grunted out of the side of his mouth, a fat cigar occupying the other corner. 

Rumlow slid the body down into the chair while the scientists fussed around a metal case, pulling out a syringe and injecting it into the corpses neck. 

A second passed. Two. Three. 

The Soldier's eyes snapped open, wild, distant and bluer than a glacier. A chill rushed through Rumlow and a rattling, breath ripped through the Soldier's throat, as if he'd been drowning and was taking his first desperate gulp of air. Those wild blue eyes locked on Rumlow's, startled and lost before they snapped, something behind those eyes switched, like a trigger and then he was blank. 

The scientists strapped the soldier into the chair with restraints and Karpov flicked the pages of his book before he began speaking in Russian. Rumlow didn't understand the words but about halfway through the Soldier unleashed an agonising scream as if someone had pressed a glowing hot branding iron to his chest. 

When it was over, Karpov closed the book and the soldier gave a brief response, his voice was cold and gravely. Rumlow wondered what he'd said. Karpov began speaking in Russian at length. Finally when he finished he pointed to Rumlow. 

"You will be working on an assignment for the next couple of weeks. You will cross Europe, infiltrate the compound and take out select key targets. It is important ALL targets are eliminated so intel gathering is key. Learn their schedule, know when to strike. If we miss just one target, the bigger picture goes bust. We can't send in more agents because too many will draw attention. Natasha will be your support, she'll stay on the outside. Don't call her in unless absolutely necessary, she'll be your backup, your extraction, but also your last option. Think you're up to the task Rumlow?" 

 "Yessir" Rumlow replied, snapping his attention to Karpov, though he kept the Soldier in his peripheral vision.

"The Black Widow will brief you on the way."

"Who are the targets?" Rumlow asked.

A thin smile curled across Karpov's face. 

"The Wolf Spiders."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out Boxes! Boxes follows Bucky and Steve long after the events of this fic but there IS a crossover which ties the two stories together ... 
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/11169816/chapters/24933339


	2. Thaw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rumlow has more questions than answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to update Boxes but this one has the most bookmarks and I live in a democratic country so popular vote demands I work on this one!!! ENJOY!

Rumlow was given an hour to gather all his essentials. That meant a pack full of rations and however many weapons of his choosing that he could comfortably carry. Of course, there would be supply drops, they were going to be remote, but not entirely cut off. Rumlow laid out his equipment on the metal weapons bench, checking that all pieces were intact and whole and barrels were clean. He wasn't exactly the neatest guy, happy to roughly patch together a vehicle or weapon in a pinch, but some missions called for a little more finesse. One of the other grunts could have handed him something fresh from the weapons supply lockers but some jobs were best done by Rumlow himself. A quick scan of the mission brief and Rumlow knew he was going up against something serious. Anywhere between three to five targets, codenamed the Wolf Spiders, were in Siberia. Their current status was unknown but one thing was certain.

They were deadly. 

A parallel program to the Black Widow's, the Wolf Spider's were Natasha's experimental "brothers". The Wolf Spiders were wired differently for some reason or another and the experiment was deemed a failure where the Black Widow, Natasha Romanov was a success. The base had been cut off when Karpov shut down the program, but as far as Rumlow could tell, Karpov kept the operation running in the dark and now he needed to really put an end to it. The collapse of the Soviet Union had destabilised many underground operations, Russian HYDRA and KGB agents were scrambling from the rotting woodwork as their empire crumbled and their enemies sniffed out secret facilities and illegal experiments.  

The Wolf Spiders were too valuable it seemed. So valuable they'd become a liability if they fell into someone else's hands. That, or they'd become too dangerous, a threat to their creators. It was an old cliché, the scientist creates the monster and then the monster kills the scientist. One way Karpov could ensure he had the upper hand was to remove them entirely to prevent them turning on him or falling into the hands of his enemies and who better to do it than one of their own?

Their training was extensive, fluent in multiple languages, expert infiltrators, deceivers and killers. Apparently they were deadlier than even the largest army. One could take down a nation without even being seen. The Winter Soldier had already destabilised the West for decades since the Second World War almost single handedly, but could be beat a Wolf Spider? What about two, or three or five? There were too many variables in this mission already and Rumlow didn't like it. 

Why didn't Karpov know exactly how many Spiders were in Siberia? Had they been moved or killed or lost? If one was strong enough to make an empire fall, how in the hell could he send them out there not knowing how many were left? Something fishy was going on. It explained why this was primarily a recon mission and then a kill mission. It also explained Karpov's caution not to rush this.  _Miss one target and the entire missions a failure_. Counting sheep, or rather, spiders, was the first step. Learning their movements and ensuring their execution was precise and thorough was the next. 

Rumlow opted for a SIG Sauer P226 Tactical and a Steyr AUG A3, picking up one gun and feeling the balance and weight in his hands before laying it down and selecting another. His trademark taser sticks were essential for any up close and personal confrontations that may occur if they found themselves cornered during an infiltration mission. He found himself agonising over sniper rifles and attachments before the questions nagging at the back of his thoughts began to get to him. 

_Fuck it. I need answers._

He was on his way to confront Karpov and squeeze out more info about the targets when an eerie voice caught his attention.

Low and gravely.

The Soldier.

He spoke in Russian, Rumlow presumed he was with Natasha and pressed himself against the wall beside the door which was open just a crack. He cursed himself for not being fluent in Russian ... or rather not knowing any words at all, but strained to listen in regardless in case he'd pick out some word or phrase as if by chance. He wiped one of his holstered daggers on his thigh and tilted it in the direction of the crack in the door, just enough to catch a reflection of the figures on the other side. It was distorted and blurry, but he could clearly make out Natasha's scarlet hair and thin, black clad frame. She leaned on the edge of the table standing opposite from the Soldier. Speaking in a low, hushed tone, Rumlow couldn't help but assume there was some kind of intimate exchange taking place. She pointed to her waist, three taps, Rumlow presumed it was the previously broken ribs, memories, but if there was any bad blood between the two it appeared to have long since vanished. 

Natasha was about to breeze away in her usual confident fashion, presumably to get Rumlow to "move his ass already" as he would have put it, when the Soldier grabbed her firmly but gently by the elbow. She turned back to face him and Rumlow sheathed his dagger and took his leave, for fear he'd be caught spying. The Soldiers ghostly voice wafted softly through the crack in the door but Rumlow didn't understand a word he'd said. 

 

Karpov was equally difficult to decipher, although unlike Rumlow's other comrades, he spoke in plain English when Rumlow asked. 

"How do you 'lose' two Spiders?" Rumlow folded his arms over his broad chest. 

Karpov wasn't easily intimidated, in fact, Rumlow was certain he didn't intimidate Karpov at all, although he did make an imposing figure with his high, sharp cheekbones and strong square jaw. 

 

"I have not lost the Spiders. There are failsafes to keep them in the facility. One Wolf Spider could destroy a city or a country, but five... They are too dangerous. No more than three Spiders are  _activated_ at a time, but if the facility has been compromised whether from the outside or inside, it is possible all five are active now. The only thing keeping them contained is the fact that they are surrounded by a frozen wasteland with no transport in or out." Karpov elaborated.

Rumlow caught movement from the corner of his left eye, Romanov and the Soldier. He hadn't even heard them coming, they were eerily silent. Karpov smiled a little, it was the kind of smile that made Rumlow feel uncomfortable, and that was no mean feat to achieve. 

"Do _you_ have any questions Soldat?" Karpov asked, though his eyes didn't leave Rumlow. 

Rumlow turned his gaze to the Soldier to see his response but he was blank and he said nothing. 

"You are a loyal Agent, Rumlow, but you ask too many questions." Karpov clamped a vice-like hand on Rumlow's shoulder. "A man who knows too much may find himself in danger and I'd hate to make you forget something you'll wish you'd never asked."

It didn't quite sound like a threat, and yet, Rumlow presumed there was threatening intent there, somewhere beneath the surface. Nat's impeccable poker face broke for a fraction of a second when Rumlow saw her swallow hard, but silently.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out Boxes! Boxes follows Bucky and Steve long after the events of this fic but there IS a crossover which ties the two stories together ... 
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/11169816/chapters/24933339


	3. Blizzard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rumlow and the Winter Soldier set up base in Siberia and Rumlow makes a discovery that could change the mission entirely ...

The flight out to the outpost 50 miles west of the Siberian base was quiet, or at least what constituted “quiet” sitting inside the rumbling cabin of a jet soaring at 30,000 feet. Natasha was silent, sitting still, one could almost mistake her for a statue. Rumlow hated standing still, even as a child he was the disruptive kid who fidgeted in class when he wasn’t throwing things and distracting pupils and teacher alike. He was built for the buzz and rush of a fire fight, not stealth, and the more he watched Natasha and the Winter Soldier, the more he wondered if he was really cut out for this or if he’d bitten off more than he could chew.

This mission was a long one. Days, maybe even weeks of observations before seeing any of the real action. It was tedious … His leg bounced impatiently and his trigger finger itched at the thought of sitting around watching a target for hours and not taking the shot.

Karpov’s orders had been crystal clear though. This mission had no room for error and before they could make the kill, they needed to be absolutely sure where each Wolf Spider was located and what their status was. The facility was huge, comprising of a weapons facility, development labs, training rooms, that was without even taking into account residential quarters and storage. The former Gulag was an old decaying fortress stuffed with advanced and archaic artefacts and weapons.

Lots of weapons.

One wrong move and the Wolf Spiders and staff in the facility would know Rumlow was there and who knows what would happen next. The Spiders may make their escape, knowing that there was someone on the outside, or they’d attack, if they hadn’t already.

The best case scenario was a simply technical fault which knocked out communications. Worst case was a facility under siege and five rogue Wolf Spiders.

Rumlow liked to think on the bright side, but with the weapons they were packing, they were prepared for the worst.

 

The Winter Soldier was as still as Natasha. The similarities in their manner betrayed their shared history in the Red Room but Natasha was considerably different. She had a sharp tongue to match her sharp wit, and a fire in her eyes that excited Rumlow, though there were some battles best left alone and Brock considered Natasha one of them. There was no fire in the Soldier though, his eyes were dead and cold and as for his tongue and wit … Rumlow found it hard to believe the Soldier knew how to speak had he not heard the raspy voice utter a handful of alien words.

Right now he was muzzled. Nose and mouth covered by a black mask, gaze unmoving, he barely even blinked.

“What’s the plan when we hit dirt?” Rumlow asked.

“There’s a-” Natasha began answering before Rumlow raised a hand and pointed to the Soldier.

“You’re our support Widow, I want to hear it from him, he’s the one going on the inside.” Rumlow’s gaze levelled with the Soldier’s.

The statue blinked.

Rumlow wondered if he’d even understood. How were they supposed to work together if they couldn’t communicate? Natasha certainly wasn’t coming along to play the role of interpreter over radio.

“We enter through the landing bay. Set up base in prison block H.”

The Soldiers answer was economical … using as few words as possible. If his pronunciation hadn’t been so bizarrely clear and American, Rumlow would have wondered if he knew few actual words in English, presuming he only understood Russian. It was strange. The Soldier understood and spoke fluent English, he even had a perfect American accent like Natasha, but the way he spoke was unnatural and mechanical. It was eerier still hearing the words come out roughly from beneath the black mask and not seeing any facial movement at all.

Somewhat satisfied by the answer, and assuming the Soldier wasn’t going to be particularly generous with words, Natasha added her own piece.

“There’s a makeshift base 50 miles out. The jet stops there and you’ll have to jet-ski out the rest of the way. The jet is too big and too loud to land on a stealth mission. I’ll be setting up comms and surveillance, your radios are good up to 80 miles out but they’ll need constant encryption so no one inside the facility picks them up and finds us. You report back to me, and I report back to Commander Karpov. While you gather intel I’ll update our database and when Karpov thinks we have enough info on their movements, he’ll issue the order and you’ll take the shots.”

Rumlow leaned back in his chair. This sounded like it would take a while. A life or death game of hide and seek inside a HYDRA facility … Cleaning up Karpov’s mess. At least Natasha was forthcoming with her words, Rumlow had a feeling he’d have to beat a response out of the Soldier before the end of this mission.

 

There wasn’t much time for further discussion, or beating up the Soldier … not that Rumlow was certain he’d even try it, like Natasha, it was a battle best avoided. The jet touched down, sending up plumes of powdery white snow, whipping around the air like tiny shards of glass.

Natasha’s base was little more than a shack, but if she was unhappy about it, she didn’t show it. One last weapons check and a supply check and they were ready to go. Rumlow had enough food to last a week, but he’d have liked more. Not because he expected they’d run out, he expected they’d meet back at Nat’s shack to resupply so running out wasn’t the problem. The problem was a weeks worth of food was all he could carry and that weeks supply was only enough to sustain him, not to fill him. The Winter Soldier packed lighter when it came to food supplies, but what he lacked in rations he made up with in combat knives and extra magazines. Rumlow wondered why the Soldier brought five days worth of food when he could have taken a little more without losing much firepower. He didn’t bother ask because the response was unlikely to be particularly illuminating anyway.

Next came the drive out to the facility. Goggles and heavy jackets were necessary but even beneath his heavy protective and insulating layers, Rumlow felt his eyes and skin sting at the biting cold that stabbed through him as they jetted against the wind, slicing paths in the snow that were concealed once again within minutes from the never ending snowfall. He wondered if the Soldier’s eyes watered beneath his goggles as well, or if he was too mechanised to respond to the discomfort. He wondered how the Soldier even knew where to go, _if_ he even knew where to go. He’d taken the lead and sped off, Rumlow smashing the gas pedal down to keep up. There was nothing around them for miles and miles. No landmarks, no roads. Just ice, ice and more ice. After ten minutes of ploughing through the snow he wondered if they were going anywhere at all, much less if they were going the right way but the Soldier continued on at the same steady pace as ever. It wasn’t until Rumlow’s earpiece buzzed to life and Nat confirmed they’d passed the halfway mark that he exhaled a sigh of relief even though the bleak landscape looked the same as ever and he felt no closer to the facility than when they started.

 

Finally, a jagged mountain loomed into view, and shoved into the edge at the bottom of its sheer cliff face was an old, angry looking concrete building. Fringed by forests, Rumlow and the Soldier shed their bulky jet-ski gear and bikes, concealing them beneath the trees. If anything went wrong and they managed to escape the facility, the jet-skis could be the difference between life and death. There were no other transports available, the jet skis, and Nat’s radio were the only advantages Rumlow and the Soldier had out here. That, and the element of surprise. It was difficult not to feel the loneliness creep in as they began to trudge through the snow.

It was even colder now without the bike gear on, but it was too bulky for a stealth mission and it would have slowed him down. Rumlow focused on his steps, counting the rhythm _one, two, one, two, one, two_ , anything to keep his brain busy so he could block out the pain of the cold gnawing at his extremities.  

Scaling the ladder on the side face of the building that lead up to the upper landing bay was a challenge. Rumlow’s joints felt as if they’d been packed with snow, as if the cold burrowed inside and made his fingers and knees stiff and unwieldy. He heard a crack with every rung he climbed and suspected each crack wasn’t the ice and snow on his tactical gear, some had to be coming from his own body.  

 

The door which separated them from the comfort of shelter inside the facility was locked of course, but the Soldier tore the door right open with ease, poked his gun through the door, ready to take out any hostiles, but no one was there.

Rumlow felt warmth wash over him once he stepped inside, though it was still freezing cold inside the old, uninsulated hangar. In truth, it wasn’t warmth he felt, just the sweet relief of being sheltered from the biting cold winds outside. Gradually the ice inside his body seemed to thaw, a dull ache beginning to set in.

As much as he hated being idle, he suddenly longed to sit down and rest for just a little while. Perhaps an observation mission wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

The Soldier led the way. The facility was a maze. Rumlow knew Nat had supplied them with some maps, they were with his others supplies and the Soldier moved about with such a rapid pace that Rumlow suspected he _knew_ this facility.

Rumlow had more and more questions. He’d thought Natasha and the Winter Soldier had trained together, but the Red Room where Natasha was created was in Moscow. She had never been to this facility before. Maybe they didn’t share as much history as Rumlow suspected.

Most halls were empty and abandoned, the Soldier stuck to narrow corridors, echoes of activity deeper in the facility echoed down the halls but they stuck to the shadows until the offices gave way to prison cells. Every surface was coated in a fine layer of dust, no cobwebs. It was too cold for spiders to survive, the only spiders in the facility were the five Wolf Spider Super Soldiers.

The Soldier began laying out his weapons to check all the parts were still in working order. It seemed here was where they would set up their undercover base.

Rumlow watched the Soldier for a few moments. He moved with precision and purpose. Every “click” of an attachment being snapped on or off was decisive, the Soldier didn’t deliberate or hesitate and he moved so fast it was as if it were all muscle memory. Despite careful packing there was always the possibility of snow and ice finding its way into the inner mechanisms. A weapon jam was a lethal mistake.

Rumlow looked over his own weapons, no jams which was a good sign. After that they made themselves comfortable, if it could even be called comfortable, in the abandoned cell. Supplies were packed away neatly and discreetly though from the look of it, no one would come down here looking for them. Rumlow took to reviewing some of the maps and committing all he could to memory but the Soldier just sat there, rigidly. Rumlow wondered what he thought about, if he even thought at all.

“You know this place?” Rumlow asked, packing away the few loose supplies he’d been toying with.

The Soldier nodded but said nothing. The silence was begin to frustrate Rumlow. The Soldier kept his mask on, even now … there was no need for it, but … it remained in place. Muzzling him. He could still speak with it on he had done on the jet, briefly. It was more than just the mask keeping him quiet.  

Rumlow lingered in the hallways, tugging open the drawer of a desk. Buried beneath some empty snack-bar wrappers was a file. Rumlow dusted it off and scanned its contents. All in Russian he didn’t understand a thing aside from the title “Волчий паук”, _Wolf Spider_ , he’d seen it in the briefing file enough times to find the symbols almost familiar.

There was a photo and some charts. It vaguely resembled a medical file. A large red X crossed out the final page and a large black stamp. A reject, a failure. Surely the case files of a successful Spider wouldn’t have been left to waste away in a dusty old desk. He looked at the mark and number on the top left corner of the page, it matched the mark and number on the wall next to the first cell. It seemed this was where the Wolf Spiders were created or stored, or at least one of the candidates for the program.

Rumlow set the file aside and returned to the cell, selecting a protein bar from his rations and tearing the packet open as he sank down onto the pitiful mattress on the bed in one of the cells.  

He took a moment to look around him, chewing thoughtfully on his bland protein bar. The walls were the same as they’d been before. Bare concrete on three sides, iron bars made up a fourth wall of sorts. The ceiling and floor were also bare concrete and aside from a thin mattress on a steel-frame cot … there was nothing else and yet the room suddenly felt different despite its bleak appearance. Perhaps the Wolf Spiders had left some kind of ghostly presence wherever they went. Rumlow shuddered at the thought. It was a strange feeling, lying in the bed of someone you knew you were going to kill soon.

He turned over on the bed then pushed himself upright.  

“Are you one of them?” Rumlow asked.

The Soldier stayed silent and looked away.

“Take off your mask and answer me.” Rumlow demanded.

The Soldier may have followed Karpov’s orders blindly and without question, but Rumlow would be damned before he’d sit around like a fool when someone had answers.

The Soldier wasn’t as obedient for Rumlow … it was Karpov who had all the control it seemed. He remained still and silent, oddly defiant. Rumlow got up to his feet, the space between him and the Soldier inside the small cell was claustrophobic, he barely had to extend his arm to press the Soldier against the wall and snarl in his face. He ripped the black mask off and tossed it aside amid the small cache of supplies.

The Soldier's jaw was dusted with dark stubble and stubbornly clenched in place, lips drawn together in a tight, thin line.

"Are you one of them" Rumlow repeated, firmer this time. 

Finally there came a response. 

“I was the first.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out Boxes! Boxes follows Bucky and Steve long after the events of this fic but there IS a crossover which ties the two stories together ... 
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/11169816/chapters/24933339


	4. Black Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha waits, radio silence is enough to drive even a seasoned agent mad but she has to hold out and hope the mission doesn't go tits-up while she waits on the sidelines.

Natasha had a few pet hates. Buttons for example, she had no time for buttons. A zipper was quicker and who had time for lengthy costume changes anyway. Another one of her pet hates was people who talked too much. Why use ten words when you only needed two? But right now she had the opposite scenario.

 

Radio silence. 

 

Natasha was good at silence. Moving in the shadows making sure no one heard or saw her, until the last second, if ever. Then they were dead. Silence was good for her but not  _this_ kind of silence. The cabin didn't make a sound, even it's ancient floorboards didn't creak. It was almost uncanny. There were no birds or bugs outside to buzz or sing, everything was buried under the unending blankets of snow upon snow upon snow. She'd been in boneyards that made more noise than this.

The Soldier and Rumlow would radio in once they'd set up a base, maybe done some recon. It shouldn't take long.  _He never takes long_. She knew this was going to be a long, slow mission, but sitting out here being support was irritating nonetheless.  _It should be me in there_. Karpov had done it to spite her of course. The Soldier knew it as well. They were too valuable not to use, but Karpov liked his games, he wouldn't grant her the luxury of working with the Soldier. They worked together perfectly. Too perfectly. 

They often shared silences when they had worked together. It was as if they didn't need to speak, they just understood one another.  _We are weapons, deadly weapons. We are here to change the world, to set it on the right course. To do what needs to be done. To do the things other people aren't strong enough or brave enough to do. We don't ask questions, we are broken down and come back stronger. It's necessary._

 

Natasha had faltered once and paid dearly for her transgressions. They played with her thoughts, took things out, put things in ... But they saved the worst for the Winter Soldier and he endured. She wasn't sure why, but she knew there was more to the story. 

 _Don't pull on that thread Nat ... you might not like where it leads._  

Back to the radio silence ... Her thoughts were loud, but not loud enough to drown out the lack of sound that filled the cabin. Her breath fogged in front of her, but she knew better than to start a fire. She knew she was stranded in the middle of a frozen wasteland, no roads, no resources ... nothing for miles upon miles. Anyone who wandered out here was a walking miracle because nothing but death awaited an unprepared explorer out here. Still ... it always paid to be cautious. If anyone, through some sort of strange happenstance, came upon information about the Wolf Spiders and the facility in Siberia they'd surely want to seize them. It was better to play dead in a frozen cabin than give away her position for the sake of a few orange flames. Fortunately she didn't necessarily need to stock the ancient iron stove, the cabin had a generator to power her radio equipment and computer gear and an electric heater. The heater wasn't for comfort however, it was for survival. Rumlow and the Soldier had heat blankets to keep themselves warm but the facility was clad in thick insulating walls, it was a fortress, it could fend off some of the cold at least but there'd be little comfort to be found anywhere here. 

It was dark outside, then again, it was dark a lot of the time out here, or blindingly bright when the snow reflected the sunlight and the tundra had little shelter to block out the dazzling whiteness. Despite herself, Nat started to drift off. 

She was just about to slip into REM phase of sleep when the radio crackled and she jolted out of her daze. The hut was pitch dark but she grabbed the closest weapon, a revolver she'd left on the desk. If there'd been an intruder, they'd have been dead before they even knew they had company in the darkened woodcabin, but she was as alone as ever. 

At least the radio wasn't silent anymore. 

"This is Widow, what's your situation?"

It was Rumlow, she could tell from the sound of his breath that it wasn't the Winter Soldier and he was the only other person who'd have cause to radio her.

"Did you know?"

"Know what? I know as much as you know. I just know all Karpov briefed us on."

"That's bullshit and you know it."

He was angry ... she could tell, he was struggling to keep his voice down and with such a delicate mission this would be a truly foolish way to screw it all up. 

"Rumlow you need to calm down." she said, but the jig was up.

"You need to tell me what Karpov's real goal here is. Does he want to terminate this program or is he recruiting because the Asset isn't my assist here ... He's  ** _one_ _of them_** "

Natasha exhaled slowly. She'd known of course. Natasha was one of the few who was privy to such deeply hidden secrets.  _He told me about them ... I told him he wasn't one of them ..._

"He's- ... " she paused, she had to keep her cool. "They were modelled in his image, yes, but ... they're different. You have to trust me on this."

"I can't do that Nat."

"Why?"

She wished she hadn't asked. She wished she could pull that word back through the radio and bury it in the snow so she wouldn't have had to process Rumlow's response. 

"Because he's gone."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out Boxes! Boxes follows Bucky and Steve long after the events of this fic but there IS a crossover which ties the two stories together ... 
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/11169816/chapters/24933339


	5. Snowfall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Winter Soldier and Rumlow play a game of cat and mouse, as the Soldier walks down memory lane and Rumlow trawls through a hallway of nightmares.

Rumlow threw the radio against the wall. 

 

He swore when the plastic case immediately splintered into a thousand tiny plastic shards and the wires and chips on the inside dropped in a useless heap on the floor. The Soldier had a radio too, no answer though, and now Rumlow was fucked unless he found the asshole who'd just up and disappeared. 

There were fuck all clues as well. The Soldier's sleeping bag and rations were untouched in their shared cell, weapons and radio gone. Wherever he'd gone, he was packing heat. Rumlow wasn't dumb enough to run around the facility without a sidearm at least and quickly grabbed the weapons he thought he'd need. 

 

This wasn't the first time Rumlow had found himself at a serious disadvantage during a mission. Sure, this time, he had a pretty serious disadvantage, but he'd probably been in worse situations before. The Winter Soldier  _knew_ this facility. How well he knew his way round was yet to be seen but, Rumlow got the sense the Soldier knew the hallways and passages by heart. 

The Soldier was methodical, logical ... if he went somewhere, it sure as hell wasn't blundering around. He was looking for something specific. Perhaps he was looking for someone. Given how dangerous the Wolf Spiders were supposed to be, it couldn't be one of them ... but the facility had long since been closed down. There were a select few scientists who previously lived in the base that may have accessed it to hide something, or erase their previous presence there but ... who would come to Siberia, activate the Spiders and stick around to see what happened? 

The most logical place to look if it was the Wolf Spiders they were after, would be their holding chamber, but if they'd escaped (or been let loose) they weren't going to sit around playing cards. The chambers would be deep in the centre of the facility, Rumlow had caught a glimpse of the layout on a weathered looking map but from inside the facility, without the sun and stars to offer some kind of orientation, it was hard for him to tell if he was facing east or south right now. 

The Soldier had made one grave error though ... he hadn't covered his tracks and in the dusty old base, patent footprint tracks were  _just about_ visible in the silvery light from the grimy window on the opposite side of the room. He'd need his torch to follow the trail since the hallway was pitch dark. He pressed himself to the doorway and listened. He listened  _hard_ for any sound. The place sounded as dead as it looked so he flicked on his torch and began to follow the prints. 

_Slippery bastard ... not as clever as you thought you were._

The footprints led deeper into the facility before the abruptly vanished. Rumlow had to stop himself from shouting in frustration. The Soldier had a reputation for being a ghost for a reason ... Rumlow couldn't tell if he'd left a partial track for a reason or if it was there solely to piss him off. 

 

 

There was no movement, no sound. The halls didn't even have a smell. 

The Soldier remembered this place when it was very different. He remembered the  _kkkzzzzaaatttt_ swarming noise of electrical pulses being shot directly through his hippocampus, the taste of blood and metal in his mouth, the smell of chemicals, steel and concrete. The ghosts of tortures past lingered just out of sight, but he knew what this place was, he knew what happened here what they  _did_ to him here. 

He knew he wasn't alone either. It wasn't the Spiders ... not  _just_ the Spiders. He knew the one person who would try lure him back here and he knew exactly where to find him. 

The Soldier knew he'd heard him step into the room, but he didn't turn around ... He kept his back toward him.  _I could gun the bastard down here and now._

"How many times did they put you in this infernal chair Soldat?" 

"Niko Constantin."

"I know my name Soldat." he turned. "Can you say the same?"

 

 

 

Rumlow heard the faintest sound echo along the hallway. In truth, once the trail had gone cold, he'd wandered blindly through the facility. Then the voices caught his attention ... _Russian_ ... he inched closer, following the noise to it's source. He found the source of the voices were two floors below him, the sound rose up through the atrium. Rumlow crept closer to the railings, leaning in to pick up the voices. One belonged to the Winter Solider.

_Niko Constantin_

That was a name ... at least, it sounded like a name rather than a random assortment of words. _Ah to hell with it, I don't know fuckin' Russian._ He wished he had Natasha on radio to translate, if the radio could even pick up the distant echoed voices from below. 

A silence settled between the two figures below. Rumlow assumed Niko, if that was his name, was awaiting a response that the Soldier refused to give. 

 

 

 

"Can you say anything about yourself Soldat? Or can you only say what they tell you to say?"

The Soldier didn't rise to Niko's taunts. This was all part of his game. 

"You're not giving me much to work with here. I thought you'd have something to say at least, after all-"

"What do you want?"

"I thought it was obvious." 

The Soldier's gaze burned through Niko but the other Russian operative didn't even flinch. He was the most formidable side-effect of the Red Room. A failure on all accounts, but a survivor where it counted. Niko was many things, but compliant wasn't one of them, nor was he forgetful. 

 

 

 

 

Rumlow levelled his sights on Niko ... shifted slightly, he had a clear shot at the Winter Soldier, shifted back to Niko ... If he took the shot, he could take out one of them but the other? Without being able to read their conversation he couldn't tell what was going on. Was Niko part of the deal? Was he a Wolf Spider? Was the Winter Soldier double-crossing him? 

He really wished he had a line to Nat right now. If nothing else, maybe she'd be able to tell him who the enemy was. 

He watched. He waited. The conversation in an alien language continued to unfold, unintelligible but clearly very intense. The Winter Soldier's responses were short, but the other man indulged in his wordplay. He spoke with a slow, steady lilt. Rumlow didn't know what he said, but the guy was cocky as hell. 

Eventually the conversation reached a rather boring end. The Winter Soldier turned and walked away. Rumlow began to stalk back to their base, he wondered who'd make it back first ... 


	6. Avalanche

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rumlow gets to see the Spiders and the Soldier in action ...

Rumlow didn't know how, but the Soldier was quicker. He'd somehow scaled two floors and the maze of hallways and made it back before him. 

"You're lucky he didn't notice you." 

Rumlow was surprised the Soldier was unusually talkative. He was tinkering with the bits and pieces of the broken radio but didn't comment on that. 

"Who the hell was that? Start talking, I need to know what the hell is going on here." 

"His name is Niko Constantin ... He was one of the most ruthless Wolf Spiders. He betrayed orders, blew his cover and was sent to a Gulag."

"So he's here for what? Revenge?

The Soldier nodded but didn't elaborate further. 

"And you just let him walk."

"He has the Wolf Spiders. If we kill him, we lose them, it would compromise the mission." 

"What does he want from you? Looked like he was waiting to make some kind of trade." 

The Soldier hesitated in his fiddling with the radio. Rumlow didn't know what that meant, but he got the impression he'd ruffled some feathers with that question, he was inching close to uncovering something. 

"We don't make trades with targets."

"Cut it out with this cryptic bullshit. Tell me what his terms are so I can put a bullet in his fuckin' brain." 

The Soldier set aside the half-assembled radio, his gaze burned like hellfire. 

"He wants Natasha. That's his trade. He'll give Karpov the heads of the Spiders, he'll take Natasha."

"I say we give her to him. He won't last two minutes."

The Soldier shook his head and got up, walking into their cell and searching for something amid their supplies. 

"You don't know what you'd be putting her up against. We aren't telling her about Constantin, leave her out of this." he uncovered a map and returned to the abandoned desk, unfurling it and brushing his hand across the schematic to smooth out a crease. 

His silvery metal finger landed at a point on the map. Deep within the facility were a series of panic rooms and heavily vaulted chambers. 

"This is where he'll be hiding. There's no way in, and he's smart, he'll have supplies, we can't wait him out. The only places that would house the Spiders cryo chambers are here" his finger slid across the map, "Here" slid again, "and here." he stopped at a different corner of the map. "He sent out a false warning to Karpov to lure me out here. This whole setup ... just to get to me and Natasha."

Rumlow had his suspicions, but now they were as good as confirmed. The Soldier and Nat had history, not just training and Red Room covert mission history. They were a team, a partnership. He burned with curiosity.  

 

"So what's our plan?"

"Fix your radio and prepare your gear."

"While you do what? Run off again, not a chance. What the hell were you doing?"

 

The Winter Soldier was an expert liar. Rumlow had been trained in the skills of deception and prepped to go deep undercover as a double agent should that be required, but even he wouldn't detect the Soldier's lies.

"We take them out. Dmitri, Leo, Arkady, Josef and ... Niko himself." He was lying about one of them though... 

Dmitri... He had special plans for Dmitri, plans he couldn't let Rumlow in on. He needed to make sure Rumlow was occupied elsewhere but up against the Wolf Spiders? He had to trust in his plan and hope that Rumlow had the ability to hold his own long enough to not get his ass killed out here. Still ... Soldiers were expendable. He knew it himself, as valuable an asset as he was to the KGB, he wasn't above replacing. None of them were, but Natasha was pretty damn close to irreplaceable.

"Constantin will have this place rigged. He knew Karpov would send me here to shut them down. He doesn't know you are here though." 

"You're sure?"

The Soldier nodded but didn't elaborate, Rumlow didn't need to know ever little piece, he just needed to know enough not to get his ass killed. Keeping a low profile for as long as possible had been part of the plan. The Winter Soldier couldn't hide in plain sight anymore, he'd been the target lured into Niko's alleged trap, but Niko had been in the Gulag for years, his age starting to catch up with him. He hadn't been in the Red Room for easily over a decade, he didn't know that HYDRA had joined the fray and that the Winter Soldier wasn't the only agent Niko had to fear ... 

 

He was keeping a number of secrets from Rumlow ... only because he knew Rumlow wouldn't trust him if he knew the plan. Natasha would, she was the only one who would trust him implicitly. Right now, Rumlow's trust wasn't his primary concern, he had a mission and a narrow window to achieve his goal.

"I'll engage the Spiders directly, you'll position yourself somewhere high up, get a good vantage point. Don't shoot unless I signal." 

"What's the signal." 

"You'll know when you see it."

Rumlow let out a frustrated growl, evidently, he was sick of all the variables, secrets and surprises. 

"I don't like the sound of this."

Dmitri was the only one the Soldier considered at least partially trustworthy. Constantin knew that would be his blindspot, he'd pull his punches because he always had hopes for Dmitri. Paired with Josef however ... Josef was the most ruthless, the most powerful. He'd overpowered the Soldier in the past in training. Niko was sly enough to pair them in such a way that the Soldier would pull his punches but the Spiders would not. Wherever the Spiders were stored, the Soldier knew that Dmitri and Josef would be together to try and throw the Soldier off balance.

 

With the one remaining good radio, the Soldier called in to update Natasha. Rumlow could only guess what the Soldier was telling her. He insisted they avoid telling her about Niko Constantin, so he'd have to spin her another story. Natasha was difficult to lie to, Rumlow couldn't begin to imagine just how the Soldier would convince her whatever fake intel he was trying to push. 

After some deliberation he switched off the radio and put it back down on the table. He paused. It was the first time Rumlow had seen him pause like that. His movements were always utilitarian, always had purpose. When he was still it was because he needed to be still, but now was a time for action, prepping weapons, making arrangements, and the Soldier paused. Rumlow didn't know whether to take it as good or bad news. He wanted to ask what he'd said to Natasha but he knew the Soldier wasn't ordinarily generous with words. In the end, he decided not to waste his breath asking. 

"This one of your Red Room games?" Rumlow asked, watching the Soldier as he tucked away a narrow knife into his boot. 

"A test..." 

"Man I hate this shit." 

"Constantin won't kill me ... He thinks I'm the only one who can lure Nat out. We need to know what he wants." 

Rumlow's brows furrowed. They had orders to kill the Spiders on sight. Karpov had warned him about asking questions or not following orders to the letter. He'd put his unwavering faith in the Soldier, but this was beginning to sound an awful lot like an unauthorised change of plans. 

"Those aren't our orders." Rumlow reminded the Soldier. 

" _He_ wasn't part of the plan. Things have changed." 

"And what next? What if-" Rumlow couldn't finish his line of questioning when something caught his attention-

Heavy bootsteps, coming closer, coming quickly. 

The Winter Soldier moved faster. Rumlow heard the footsteps echoing closer but still, somehow the assailant blindsided him.  _Stupid, let myself get distracted!_ He wouldn't allow such an amateur mistake to repeat itself thats for sure. 

The Solider moved in a dark flash, a glint of silver, a flurry of black combat armour, he was on top of the other Russian assassin in an instant. The fight was brutal and messy. Rumlow levelled his gun but couldn't get a clean shot. The Spider had blonde hair, white-blonde and he moved with terrifying force. He was bulkier than the Winter Soldier and even managed to overpower him. The silver, bionic arm was wrenched aside and for a second, Rumlow thought the Soldier was losing. The Spider was unrelenting, smashing the Soldier into the concrete wall so hard it made Rumlow's teeth chatter. He aimed low and fired. He hoped the shot was enough to drive the Spider back, just far enough to get a clean shot in and finish him. 

The Spider didn't let go, the bullet had only grazed his shin. It was bleeding heavily but he barely seemed to notice. Fortunately, he'd jerked when the bullet hit and that was the only opening the Soldier needed, driving his knee up into the Spiders stomach and kicking him back, drawing a knife from his hip and slashing forward violently.

The Spider hissed something in Russian. The Soldier didn't respond, but something in his face twisted ... anger? pain? ... Whatever it was, he didn't pause his assault. 

Rumlow shot forward, taking on the Spider from the side, tackling him off his feet. His hands curled up into fists and he pounded the blonde-Spiders face till his cold, raw knuckles were warmed with blood. To his surprise, and horror, the Spider cackled, a gurgling laugh as blood bubbled in the corners of his mouth where his lip had been split. He brushed Rumlow aside with a single sweep of his massive arm and slowly sauntered forward. His fist collided with Rumlow's nose, easily shattering cartilage to pieces and knocking him off his feet. His vision blurred, from the corner of his eye he could see the Soldier grappling a second Spider, dark haired- Rumlow hadn't even seen him arrive. 

The hulking-blonde Spider dominated Rumlow's field of vision as he scooped him up, wrapping his thick fingers around Rumlow's neck. Rumlow kicked and scratched, wrenched his whole body violently from one side to another, anything to try and loosen the death-grip as he gagged and gasped for breath. The corners of his vision was growing dark. The Spider squeezed tighter, his dark eyes fathomless and empty. Rumlow saw no soul inside, nothing, just rage, unbridled rage-

Then suddenly his gaze grew distant, a different kind of empty- His grip loosened and he staggered and slunk away. Rumlow sucked in air, desperately heaving for breath. The Soldier's fuzzy black silhouette shifted into focus, a hand outstretched to pull Rumlow back onto his feet. 

"Guess I owe you one." Rumlow huffed as his lungs slowed to a more relaxed pace. 

The Soldier's gaze lingered on the two dead Spiders ...

"I need a favour." 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out Boxes! Boxes follows Bucky and Steve long after the events of this fic but there IS a crossover which ties the two stories together ...
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/11169816/chapters/24933339
> 
> Stay tuned in to my twitter for updates  
> @HollowSoldat  
> Come chat with me, tweet me and I'll follow back :)


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